Cryptopsy - Blasphemy Made Flesh - 95%

Technical death metal is a genre now becoming very popular these among the seas of endless heavy music, and also one of my favorites to listen to and play. I've found this Cryptopsy release to be one of my favorite ones, especially sense Cryptopsy has been able to help further raise the bar and influence many modern technical death metal bands today. There is a lot that I like about this album, being that it is their first full length, and even at the time at which it was recorded, it sounds really, really surprisingly good. It was 1994, and although it wasn't the best sounding production that had ever been produced, it is still fun and brutal enough for me to rotate in for a couple of listens. Not a typical stunt for a band to be performing at the time of this record's release, but never the less, there was something to brag about upon these guys entering the scene with their truly progressing talent. This again, is another one of those albums whose songs all seem to flow together pretty well, and there wasn’t one that I didn’t like, as I am the type of person to tend to rotate an entire album, and I can usually find to like ALL or most of the songs on the record, not just the 1 or 2 good “hits” that people will usually waste money buying the whole CD for.

The first thing that is well executed are the vocals, which are a big motivator as far as going to enhance the music, as Lord Worm's low death growls are at times, very low, even growls that are very indecipherable at times, but still good enough to go with the music's complexity and technicality, as well as some of the high pitched ones, which further help to enhance it, especially with the lyrics, of which, are typical "death metal" type lyrics, but they still are able to mix in perfectly with the rest. Later he would continue to put them to use, just until his ultimate demise, leading to his second (and perhaps final) departure from the band. Out of all the vocalists that the band has had, his style has been the most prominent and better sounding of the latter ones as well.

The guitarists, are relentless in their chord progression, as then they then will switch over to sweeps, which at times can be overwhelming and confusing to any first time listener of this type of music, as odd andcomplex/unpredictable and often time signatures changes can make anyone's brain start to bleed if caught off guard, one of the very reasons why tech death can be fun to listen to, and even cooler to play sometimes too, as it allows the player to experiment and do what he/she really feels like, while also creating a musical masterpiece that would require many multiple listens and practices in order for another band to attempt to cover any of their songs. The bass guitar is pretty "fun" as well I should say, along with the inner guitar notes, the bass gives its own little grooves in at times that just make it seem as if the bass is a whole different presence as its own distinguished instrument, and not just a "follower" of the guitar.

The drumming is, well, let's just say that even back in the day, Flo Mounier is a technical mad man that just does everything he can to play fast, brutal, and complex to the point we he, too, is also one of them drummers that can "play guitar riffs on drums", as like another bass, the rhythm section is spectacular and rarely ceases to amaze me. This surely will also not be the last time that he continues to keep up the shear essence of extreme skill, as he will later apply these techniques to the rest of Cryptopsy’s albums. His skill of using complex and fast blast beats that end up slowing down to keep up the back beat is surely one of the most amazing things that a drummer is able to do, being able to play fast, but then also to be able to switch it up a bit with different grooves, and then even sometimes slow parts that put further emotion and depth to the music itself.

All in all, other than the production quality, which I'll forgive due to the nature of the type of technology at the time, along with the band's predictable financial status then, with the often indecipherable vocals, it's a pretty good album, still one of the cooler technical death metal ones that I like to listen to, and if you’re a fan of the genre, (or especially a fan of this band, old or new) I'd recommend at least one listen all the way through, because then you'll know, these guys(at least before they became really, really bad Deathcore) really put all their talent into their work, and have great abilities to create brutal and complex musical masterpieces that anyone with an open mind and true appreciation and understanding of music can really enjoy, that is, to say the least.